On May 25th, 1965, Muhammad Ali boxed Sonny Liston fought for the 2nd time for the title of the heavyweight champion of the world. They had previously boxed a year before that in 1964, where Ali as an 8-1 underdog was able to defeat Liston via the 7th round, securing the title from Liston. Liston at the time was considered one of the greatest and most ferocious fighters of all time and was eager to reclaim his title in this second matchup. However, this fight was over quickly. Ali was able to defeat Liston with a first-round knockout and send the crowd into a frenzy in one of the most anticipated boxing matches of all time.
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Fans were not convinced. Cries of a “fix” came from outside the arena and when asked about the last punch, even Ali was not sure if it was a left hook or a right cross that did the damage. No one was able to tell what happened, even after slow motion camera footage was shown. The legend of the “phantom punch” was born, and the question became, was the fight fixed for Liston to lose?
The first piece of evidence regarding a fix in this match comes from the possibility of the first match in 1964 being fixed. In that match, Liston retired with a shoulder injury, something that many questioned. According to an in-depth piece from the Washington Times citing decades-old FBI documents, the FBI believed that the 1964 fight was rigged, with the reason behind it being a mob connection named Ash Resnick, who they believed helped set it up. A middleman for Resnick, by the name of Barnett Magids told the FBI that he was told by Resnick to not put any bets on Liston and just watch the fight, which made him know that something was up.
After the fight, Sports Illustrated cited Resnick as a loser of the fight for his public backing of Liston, but people “in the know” reportedly said both he and Liston made over a million dollars from the fight. Liston was also connected to organized crime. This makes a second fix that much more believable, especially when Liston crumbled after Ali only threw a total of ten punches before the fatal one, and Ali was never known as a one punch knockout puncher.
In my opinion, I believe that the “phantom punch” fight was not rigged. Liston was old and had a back at the time of the fight, and that took a toll on him at the end of his career. The fight was originally scheduled for November 16th, 1964, and Liston had gone through the hardest training camp of his life to prepare for this fight. However, after a six-month delay, Liston could not do another training camp, as the toll would be too much on his old body and chronic injuries.
I personally love conspiracy theories, and seeing other people’s opinions on them. I actually have though a lot about this fight for some reason, even though I’m not a fan of boxing. I would say I agree with you on this one too. I like your style of writing since it’s easy to follow and very casual.
This was honestly a very interesting blog and story. I have always been a fan of Muhammad Ali just for the way that he carries himself as a person but don’t know much about his actual boxing career. After reading your blog, I went to go watch the video of the phantom punch; I can kind of see what people are talking about. The left hook that he throws after Liston falls down looks very awkward. However, I agree with you that I don’t think the fight was fixed. The right hand punch Ali threw looked extremely powerful and anything can happen in boxing. You told the story in a very interesting way, good job!
I never knew of the conspiracy that this fight between Ali and Liston was fixed so this was interesting to read about. The photo of Ali standing over Liston is iconic for a reason, so I agree with you that this fight was just Ali showing his talent. I can see how people may think it was fixed, but with all of Liston’s injuries I believe it was real. Nicely done.